


Hidden Surprises

by summerrain24601



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-31
Updated: 2015-12-31
Packaged: 2018-05-10 14:17:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5589304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/summerrain24601/pseuds/summerrain24601
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Dread Wolf's memories haunt him as he walks the waking world again. The strongest memories are of the one called Sylaise, of the enchanting songs she would sing, and of the healing magics she worked. But what will he do when the past returns to him, in the most unexpected way possible?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Memories

**Author's Note:**

> Just assume that the dialogue in this chapter is all in the elven language. I'm rewriting the next bits of my Tevinter Seeker story, so please bear with me. I'm also basing this on the hints that Sylaise and Andruil were sometimes believed to be Mythal's daughters, so basically all of the Creators are related biologically, except Fen'Harel.

He sat up in the tree, legs swinging like a child's as he watched her. She sat beneath the home-tree, playing her music and singing in that beautifully lilting voice of hers. His eyes closed as he listened to her voice, up where she wouldn't see him. When her music stopped suddenly, he looked back down and saw another girl had joined the first, and he rolled his eyes at the creature that the new girl had in her hands. Of course her sister would come to show off. Andruil was always better at hunting than Sylaise was. But it was her voice that had drawn him to Sylaise in the first place. Solas watched from his perch in the trees as Andruil ran off again, to take her kill to the cooks to be used for that night's meal. Sylaise returned to her song as her sister ran off, and Solas closed his eyes again and enjoyed her music.  
__________________________________________

"Are you going to keep listening from the trees, or are you going to join me here at home-tree?"

Her question to him caught him off-guard, and he slipped and fell out of the tree. A quickly muttered spell on her part slowed his fall enough for him to right himself and land on his feet, the tips of his ears burning in embarrassment. He turned to walk away, but a word from her stopped him.

"You don't have to be embarrassed," she told him. He looked back at her, the smile on her face making her eyes sparkle, and he felt his chest tighten. He cared for her, he realized. More than might be wise. But he didn't want to worry about what anyone else thought. Her laugh made his heart lift. "You don't need to worry about my sister, she won't hurt you." Sylaise walked closer to him, her face more serious now. Her instrument - he never could remember the names of all the different instruments she played - was laid aside, propped up against one of home-tree's roots. Her hands were clasped behind her back, and she gave him another small smile as she looked up at him. She was a few years younger than him, but the age difference was not enough to worry any of the elders. "I've watched you, seen your skills at magic. Maybe you could teach me?"

"I don't think you need another teacher," he managed, frozen to the spot with her so close. "You are a skilled mage already. What more is there for me to teach you?"

"Andruil likes her combat magic, and I don't know anyone else who has any knowledge of healing magics," she admitted, averting her eyes for a moment before meeting his eyes again. "You're really the only one here who's good at healing magic." It was true, he knew more extensive healing magic than the other healers in the village, even though he liked to go exploring around the village. He sighed quietly, then gave her his crooked grin.

"Very well then," he agreed. "I will teach you."  
______________________________________________

She laughed as she watched him jump through the trees. He was so agile, it was incredible. And she'd grown close to him since asking him to teach her... She often found herself wondering if he felt the same. He dropped out of a tree from above her, landing behind her. She whipped around and caught him in the face with her long hair, laughing again when he was pulling strands of her dark hair out of his mouth. The look in his eyes changed, became more serious, and she found herself unable to breathe when she looked into his eyes. He pulled her close to him, one arm snaking around her hips to hold her close, and he hesitantly pressed his lips to hers. After a moment, she silently answered his kiss, her body forming to fit with his. Her arms went around his neck, and she relaxed into his embrace. 

After a moment, Solas broke the kiss and rested his forehead against hers. "I hope you do not mind..." he whispered to her.

"I'm still here, aren't I?" she asked softly. He answered her with another kiss. They separated and smiled softly at each other. 

"I do hope Andruil won't see me as a threat to her dear little sister," Solas laughed.

"Andruil would disapprove of anyone I chose to spend serious time with," Sylaise responded with a grin. "She'll come around eventually. Or at least learn to tolerate your presence. But it doesn't matter." She kissed him again. "You are mine, not hers."  
_____________________________________________

"Andruil, you need to stop!"

"Why, little sister? They are fun to hunt!"

"But it's wrong! You're murdering them!" 

"It's just a bit of sport, Sylaise. You worry too much." 

It was the same every time. Andruil had started to go mad with her desire for the hunt, she wasn't finding the appeal in simply hunting the herds in the woods anymore. Solas watched as Andruil stormed off, then dropped out of the tree to meet Sylaise, stealing a kiss while they were temporarily alone in Sylaise's spot at the base of the home-tree. 

"Solas!" she protested, blushing brightly. He laughed softly and took her hand. She sighed and followed him as he pulled her along. He led her to a lake, away from the village, and kissed her hard. It was demanding, heated with desire and longing, and she gave in to him, her body forming to fit his. But she broke the kiss and turned away, sighing.

"What is it, vhenan?" he asked her, wrapping her in his arms and resting his head on her shoulder. 

"My sister," she explained. "The villagers haven't noticed it yet, but she's been hunting... people..." A soft release of breath told her that he hadn't noticed either, but that he didn't seem too surprised. "Something's wrong with her... The villagers started praising her hunting the way they praise my songs... I think it's going to her head."

"Andruil was never as humble as you," Solas admitted to her, softly kissing her cheek. "Your sister could never compare to you."

"I appreciate that," Sylaise said with a laugh, but it soon died in her throat. "But Andruil won't listen to me. I keep telling her to stop, but she just... Won't listen." 

"Have you talked to your mother yet?"

"Mother and father don't see it yet," she admitted with a sigh. "And my brothers think I'm hovering over Andruil too much. They tell me I should give you more attention than I do," she added with a soft laugh. She felt his lips on her cheek again.

"You care for your siblings, that is part of why I love you, vhenan," Solas admitted. Sylaise closed her eyes and relaxed into him. "Do you want me to talk to Andruil?"

"No, don't worry about it," Sylaise assured him, turning to face him. "I'll talk some sense into her eventually. I hope..."  
_______________________________________________________________

"No... Mother!" Sylaise fell to her knees beside the elven woman, pulling Mythal into her arms. Tears ran down her cheeks.

"Sylaise... I didn't... I mean..." Andruil stood there in shock, bow in hand. She looked down at the bow, then tossed it away. The wood clattered on the ground as it bounced away. Sylaise looked up from where she sat, glaring at her sister through her tears. 

"Traitor! I defended you when the others started whispering you were mad!" She gently laid her mother's body back on the blood-soaked ground, then stood again. She knew the others were nearby, all standing behind her. Then her father broke through the trees, eyes glinting like a mad bear. "No, Father!" She tried to hold him back, but she wasn't strong enough. She watched, helpless, as Elgar'nan attacked Andruil, as Falon'Din tried to pull Elgar'nan off Andruil, and Dirthamen hurled insults at Andruil and her husband from where he sat by Mythal's body. She stood apart from the ones she had called family, silently crying. She turned to a spot in the shadows, where she knew Solas was watching. He approached her slowly, and she walked toward him. She placed a hand on his cheek, and the two of them kissed one last time. 

"Don't worry about me," she told him, smiling through her tears. "I know this is necessary, to keep my family from tearing the world apart..." He looked at her sadly, and pressed his lips to hers again, more forcefully this time. He knew he would not see her again.

"Ar lath ma, vhenan," she whispered to him before stepping back, to where the rest of her family was still fighting. She saw his hands glow, and then felt the world around her fade away as their prepared spell tore the spirits from the waking world. She accepted her banishment willingly. She would have done so much more if it would keep the world safe from her brothers and sisters. But her mother didn't need to die for this to happen... A new world formed itself around her as she watched, but eventually the pain was too much for her to bear, and she forced herself to sleep.


	2. Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Solas has joined the Inquisition, in an attempt to set things right. But an unexpected visitor from his past sets him on edge.

He woke with a start, the image of her crying face stuck in his mind even as the rest of the dream began to fade. He sat up and sighed, running a hand over his face in an attempt to clear his head. He had only been awake for a year before he joined the Inquisition. The rest of the world didn't remember that moment, but it was still fresh in his mind. He still hated that he'd had to do that to her, but he hadn't been able to talk her out of it. In the end, Sylaise was just as stubborn as Andruil, and he'd hated her for it as much as he loved her. His plans to release her from the Fade had gone awry, and now he had to fix it. But he had a strange feeling that something was going to happen that day, and it bothered him as he tried to focus on his research. 

When the noon meal had been prepared, he decided to join the others in the dining hall, for once. And upon his return, he was surprised by a familiar elven woman sitting on his desk, reading one of the books he'd pulled from the basement library. 

"Andaran Atish'an," he said to her, then gasped in surprise when she looked up. There was no way it could be, and yet she was sitting before him, looking the same as she had the day he'd cast the spell. 

"Aneth ara," she responded, her melodic voice making his heart clench. "I missed you, vhenan," she continued, in the old elven language. Smart of her, he realized. No one here, even the elves, would understand the old tongue the way he would. 

"And I you, vhenan," he responded honestly as he approached her. "But... How are you here?"

"The Breach," she told him simply, closing the book and placing it down beside her on the desk. "Your magic is so familiar to me, I knew it was your orb that opened the hole in the Veil." She pushed herself off the desk, her grace undiminished for all her time in the Fade. "And you, my dear, are playing a very dangerous game." She walked closer to him, one gentle hand resting on his cheek. "You haven't aged a bit in the countless ages that passed..."

"Neither have you," he noted, bringing a hand to her face. Last time he saw her, she'd discovered her sister's madness and had lost her mother, then her world. 

"You do not need to torture yourself anymore, my love," she assured him. A soft smile grew on her lips, and she looked exactly like the girl he'd fallen in love with so many ages ago. "Your orb drew me to the Breach, and then I escaped the Fade when a Rift opened." She saw the look in his eyes, and she laughed softly. "Don't worry, the others do not know your magic as well as I do," she assured him. "They will not know Fen'Harel is up to his old tricks." But there was a sadness in her eyes as she brought her face closer and pressed her lips against his. "I can guess at your intentions, though." She slipped out of his arms, and he did not try to restrain her. "I watched from the Fade as this world was destroyed once... I cannot see it die again." She looked at him from the other side of the desk, looking down at the books, the gleam in her eyes so familiar to him that his heart ached.

"I know that look," he muttered, shaking his head. "What is it that claws at your mind so?"

"I watched as the humans took what was left of the elves, how they forgot the truth of what happened," she explained softly, still talking in the elven tongue. "It is kinder to not remind them of what was. I fear this world cannot be undone now without everything burning again... I have come to reason that the elvhen and shemlen would have destroyed each other if you had not torn the spirits from this world." She didn't meet his eyes, knowing what she would find in their depths. "I watched the world as you slept, and I have grown fond of the people here." She looked at him then, from across the table. 

"I love you, my heart, but this time I will not simply stand by and watch while the world burns," she told him, determination glinting in her eyes. 

"Sylaise..." 

"Please, vhenan, don't," she whispered, practically begging. "I don't like this any more than you do... But I will not see my family's wrath plunge this world into chaos!" She vaulted over the desk and stopped in front of him again, her eyes pleading with him to understand. "But you will still try... You're just as stubborn as I am, as Andruil. I pray that you see sense..." She slipped past him, in a way that was more spirit than elven, and vanished into the crowd. He turned and watched as she left the room, and then he sat in his chair, running a hand over his face. How did she know what he was planning?


End file.
